Wednesday 14 May 2014

Dundee House disabled access to be repaired, council promises

Dundee City Council has promised to ensure a permanent solution to the broken electronic doors at its headquarters will be implemented by the end of May.

As I indicated on Wave 102 News, I had raised constituents’ complaints that the electronic doors at Dundee House have been out of action very regularly recently and it’s a real difficulty in particular for elderly people and people with disabilities as the manual doors are quite heavy and not that easy to operate.   It is extremely difficult for someone with a pram or in a mobility scooter or wheelchair to use the manual doors.

I contacted the council’s Director of City Development who has advised:

“There is a permanent solution, hopefully, to be implemented by the end of the month.  The doors had undergone a full service only to be damaged, that same day, by a customer leaving the building who forced the doors outward rather than use the pull handle or the automatic mechanism.  This repair was compounded by the suspended ceiling above dropping and preventing the doors from opening.  The ceiling has been repaired and we await the door contractor to come back to re-set the doors.  In addition we are looking to simplify the door signage to better highlight the push/pull nature of use.

There is no cost to DCC in having the doors repaired to date. We are still in the Defects period and the contractor has been responding to issues.”

I am pleased a proper solution is in sight as the current situation is far from satisfactory.   The council’s main public offices should be easily accessible at all times.